Skip to main content

The Song from Somewhere Else


The Song from Somewhere Else
by A. F. Harrold
Bloomsbury Children's Books, (2016 uk) 2017. Fiction. 217 p.
Frank, (short for Francesca) has been mercilessly bullied by Neil and his goons for over a year.  She lives in fear and sees no way out.  Then one day, Nick, a over-sized boy with body odor problems comes to her rescue.  At first Frank is afraid that now he will want to be her friend, which would cause her more social problems. Yet something keeps bringing her back to his home, and slowly she comes to realize that he is more -much more- than he seems.

This is a great book about the emotional damage done by bullying and the healing possible through true friendship. Fern learns that she shouldn't judge by appearances, and that help can come from the most unexpected places. This book is as heartwarming as recent popular realistic fiction, but an added fantasy element gives it a broader appeal. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Dude, That's Rude! (Get Some Manners) by Pamela Espeland & Elizabeth Verdick

If there's one book today's kids need to read, it is Dude, That's Rude! (Get Some Manners) . The authors provide a fun format for teaching etiquette to children. They discuss proper behavior at home, at school, at other people's homes and in public places. The information is completely up-to-date with cellphone manners and netiquette included. Fun, cartoony illustrations are on practically every page giving the book great visual appeal. This book is perfect for boys and girls in the fourth grade or older. WARNING: Bodily functions are discussed.

Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin

Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin Illustrated by Leslie Evans Charlesburg; 2009; unpaged Faces of the Moon is a short nonfiction book that describes the different phases of the moon and why the moon appears like it does on certain nights. This book is short and sweet so even the youngest of moon lovers will enjoy it. The layout is simplistic and easy to follow. I don’t know much about the moon so I found it very interesting.

Review: The Factory

The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages.  Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...